Young people often tend to be depicted either as a risk factor or passive victim. Few youth
have the possibilities to actively take part in decision-making processes affecting their lives.
However, researchers increasingly criticize this oversimplified view of young people and
stress the significance of involving them in social transformation processes. A first step to do
so is to consider young people’s interpretation and assessment of the world.
Thus, the present research project aims at giving voice to a certain group of young people we
hardly hear, namely street-living adolescents in Cusco, Peru, regarding two particular social
issues: peace and violence. How do these adolescents conceptualize ‘peace’ and ‘violence’?
To find answers to this proposition, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in
combination with the creation of drawings.
The empirical findings revealed a three-folded peace concept, which can be systemized as
‘Three Dimensions of Peace.’ The street adolescents regard peace not just as the opposite of
war or other types of overt violence. Their understanding combines elements that might be
ascribed to either ‘typically’ occidental or oriental ideas about peace. As a result, the ‘Three
Dimensions of Peace’ as understood by the youths complement existing peace theories.
Previous research regarding young people’s conception of violence and peace frequently
made use of the cognitive-developmental approach. This study’s interest, however, is chiefly
centered on the individual’s relation with the sociocultural environment and its affect on ideas
about peace and violence. In accordance with the socialization and ecological perspectives, it
can be argued that the youth’s understanding of these concepts is influenced by their
interactions with the immediate surroundings and by the wider sociocultural setting.
Therefore, this research project additionally explores the street youths’ conceptualizations in
relation to their specific cultural background and social reality. So as to collect information
about their socialcultural context, supplementary interviews were carried out with adults who
are experienced in working directly with the street adolescents.
Due to the relation between the youths’ social knowledge and their particular social
experiences and interactions with their immediate and wider surroundings, the three-folded
peace concept gives an idea about the Cusquenian adolescents’ perspective of changes that
have to be undertaken in their environment in order to improve their own lives but also to
achieve a greater level of peacefulness for the whole Peruvian society.... more